Police Find Baby’s Head in Chicago Park Lagoon

A child’s head was found Sunday in a Chicago park as police were searching for the remains of a toddler whose dismembered body parts were uncovered a day earlier in a lagoon.

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office said in a brief statement Monday the head appears to be from an African-American child of between 2 and 3 years old. The statement doesn’t mention the victim’s gender.

Authorities told the Chicago Tribune that the head in Garfield Park was located near where a foot and hands were found.

Police started making the gruesome discoveries after they were called to the park on the city’s west side on Saturday afternoon,MyFoxChicago reported.

“We are searching the lagoon for human remains,” police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said late Saturday. “No word yet on how any of this happened.”

The limbs found in the water were in an advanced state of decomposition and were not clothed, authorities told the Chicago Tribune. The medical examiner’s said Monday the manner of death still hasn’t been determined

Dozens of officers could be seen wading through cattail reeds and waist-high water on Sunday and Monday, feeling the bottom with their hands. Elsewhere, an officer was walking the perimeter of the lagoon and picking up items to put in a paper bag.

Guglielmi said Sunday that depending on what searchers find, the lagoon might be drained to make sure there are no more remains in it.

Someone called 911 Saturday to report a small foot floating in the lagoon,the Chicago Tribune reported. It turned out to be the left foot of a toddler.

Police later found a right foot, right hand and left hand on the north side of the lagoon, the paper said. Also found nearby was a 20-pound weight.

The neighborhood’s alderman, Jason Ervin, told reporters Sunday that investigators told him the child was likely between the ages of 2 and 4 years old.